<table border="0" width="100%">
  <tr>
    <td align="right" valign="middle">
${TARGET="offline"}                    <a href="${LDAP_SDK_HOME_URL}" style="font-size: 85%">LDAP SDK Home Page</a>
${TARGET="offline"}                    <br>
      <a href="../index.${EXTENSION}" style="font-size: 85%">Product Information</a>
    </td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h2>LDAP Specifications</h2>

<p></p>
<p>
  Although there are a number of proprietary extensions, the core of LDAP is an open standard,
  primarily governed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).  Most of these open LDAP
  specifications start out as Internet Drafts, and some of those are promoted to RFCs.
</p>

<p>
  An Internet Draft is intended to be a working document that is evolved through public
  collaboration.  Drafts are identified by a name and a revision number (with the initial version
  of a draft having revision number "00"), and whenever a draft is updated the revision number is
  incremented.  Each revision of a draft is given an expiration date that is six months from the
  date that it was initially published.  The expectation is that, before the expiration date is
  reached, one of the following will happen:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>A new revision will be published to supersede all previous revisions.  The new revision will
      have a new expiration date.</li>
  <li>The draft will be considered complete and promoted to an RFC.</li>
  <li>The draft will be abandoned, and no further work will happen on it.</li>
</ul>

<p>
  Occasionally, a draft that has been abandoned (or allowed to expire) will be resurrected and a
  new revision published after the expiration date for the previous draft.  And in some cases, a
  draft that has been abandoned will be considered to be "good enough" to have support for its
  content implemented in one or more directory servers, although this is somewhat dangerous
  because if the draft is revived and new revisions are published, there is the risk that the new
  revisions may introduce incompatibilities with previous revisions that may make it difficult for
  directory vendors to maintain support for the previous version and the new incompatible version
  should it reach the point of becoming a standard and published as an RFC.
</p>

<p>
  An RFC is considered much more stable than an Internet Draft.  RFCs do not expire, although one
  RFC may be obsoleted by a later RFC.  But even in the case of one RFC obsoleting another, the
  new RFC should generally not introduce incompatibilities with the previous specification, but
  should either provide some form of clarification of the previous specification, or should
  indicate that the previous RFC is transitioned to "historic" status in which it is not
  recommended for new use.
</p>

<p>
  The following pages provide noteworthy LDAP reference materials:
  The following pages provide links to a number of the most noteworthy LDAP specifications:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>
    <a href="rfcs.${EXTENSION}">LDAP Specifications Defined in RFCs</a>
    <br><br>
  </li>

  <li>
    <a href="internet-drafts.${EXTENSION}">LDAP Specifications Defined in Internet Drafts</a>
    <br><br>
  </li>
</ul>
